Plans On Course For Late 2016, But Connecticut Has To Decide If Amtrak, Metro-North, Or A Different Contractor Should Take Control

HARTFORD — Commuters along the I-91 corridor can expect a new way to get to work in late 2016 when trains begin running a relatively high-frequency schedule between New Haven and Springfield, transportation planners said Wednesday night.

But who will operate the service is still undecided — and might be for another year or more.

Many state politicians have assumed that Amtrak would run the trains because it owns the 62-mile rail line. Others were looking for Metro-North to get the contract because it runs Connecticut's busy New Haven Line, along with the Waterbury, New Canaan and Danbury branches.

But in a two-hour meeting Wednesday night at Hartford's Union Station, state Department of Transportation managers told the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council that no choice has been made yet.

"It's in internal discussions at this time," said John Bernick, project manager with the DOT. "It's a very sensitive issue."

Connecticut is spending more than $400 million in state and federal funds to modernize the lightly used Amtrak line, add a second set of tracks, rebuild bridges, renovate stations and install modern signals and new grade crossings. The goal is to have the system ready to accommodate commuter service by December 2016, with 17 round-trips a day between New Haven and Hartford — including 12 that will continue north to Springfield.

Connecticut intends to deploy a fleet of diesel locomotives and passenger cars on the line, and will hire a contractor to operate the system. Whether that job goes to Amtrak, Metro-North or another railroad is a choice that's become more politically sensitive for the Malloy administration in the past year because of Metro-North's crashes, plummeting service and suddenly dismal customer satisfaction level.

The legislation that authorized that state to create the new service also enables it to seek competitive bids from prospective operators, and last month Gov. Dannel P. Malloy pointedly said that Connecticut will keep its options open in light of Metro-North's troubles.

DOT officials on Wednesday night said they would like to decide within the next three to six months whether to issue a general request for proposals; if the state does that, it would need another year or so to work out detailed operating agreements with the successful vendor.

Amtrak now runs six round-trips a day on the line, including its Vermonter and Northeast Regional long-haul trains. Amtrak uses mainly shorter shuttle trains, though, primarily as a way to feed its Northeast Corridor trains to Boston, New York and Washington.

Connecticut wants to nearly triple the frequency of trains on that line, making it much more attractive to central Connecticut residents who need to get to jobs or business appointments in New Haven or along the shoreline. Amtrak has about 300,000 passenger trips a year on the route, while the state projects that expanded service would push ridership to 800,000 or more, the DOT said.

Bernick said a key appeal of the service will be high frequency, with trains running every 45 minutes in each direction at peak periods. That schedule would get even busier if service is boosted to 25 round trips a day, which is a long-term goal.

Connecticut and Massachusetts are trying to get funding to complete the Hartford-to-Springfield double tracking, and Massachusetts is studying how to bring in connecting service from Boston to Springfield.

Work crews have been installing fiber optic cables and other signal equipment along the route for more than a year, and bids for heavy construction are scheduled to go out in early summer.